COVID-19 Was Developed In Wuhan Lab So China Could Prove It's Better Than US - Report

Coronavirus was "developed in a Wuhan lab as China hoped to prove it's greater than the US at battling deadly diseases", it has been alleged. 

Several insiders told Fox the deadly bug wasn't manufactured as a bioweapon but rather, to prove China was on par with - or superior to - the US, in terms of its ability to fight infections.

President Trump acknowledged the extraordinary claims during his daily press briefing Wednesday

"Patient zero" was a laboratory worker at the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab who spread the virus into the Wuhan community, sources who had reportedly been briefed on intelligence told Fox.

It was described as one of the "costliest government coverup of all time".

When Trump was asked on Wednesday by John Roberts of Fox about the extraordinary claims, he said: "More and more we’re hearing the story.

"And we'll see. When you say 'multiple sources' - now there's a case where you can use the word 'sources.'

"But we are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened."

Fox cites classified information, open-source documents, and evidence that the station has requested access to.

Blaming the Wuhan meat market - where bats are not sold - was reportedly an effort to deflect blame from the communist government when the lab's containment efforts failed, according to material seen by Fox.

Americans originally helped train the Chinese in a program called PREVENT before they started working on the virus and the French government helped set up the lab.

In January 2018, the US Embassy in Beijing sent two official warnings back to Washington highlighting inadequate safety measures at the Wuhan lab where scientists conducted dangerous research on coronavirus from bats, The Washington Post reported.

They warned about safety and management weaknesses at the lab and proposed more international assistance as the Chinese had turned down help to prove their ability to work independently.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told The Story on Wednesday: "What we do know is we know that this virus originated in Wuhan, China. We know there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from where the wet market was.

"There is still lots to learn. You should know that the United States government is working diligently to figure it out."

Pompeo said the State Department knew the Wuhan lab contained "highly contagious materials" and that "many countries have programs like this".

He added: "In countries that are open and transparent, they have the ability to control them and keep them safe, and they allow outside observers in to make sure all the processes and procedures are right.

"I only wish that that had happened in this place."

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox it "should be no surprise to you that we have taken a keen interest in that and we've had a lot of intelligence take a hard look at that."

"I would just say at this point, it's inconclusive, although the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural, but we don't know for certain," Milley said.

Officials at the Wuhan lab have previously dismissed allegations that coronavirus came from their facility and have called them baseless conspiracy theories.

Scientists have said that genetic evidence indicates the virus was not artificially engineered and it had likely originated in bats.

However, the genetic data cannot indicate exactly where and how the virus first crossed to humans.

President Xi Jinping warned the public about the killer virus on January 20 - seven days after thousands traveled through Wuhan for the Lunar New Year and there were already 3,000 cases.

Other reports have also emerged alleging China attempted to cover up its role in the extent of the pandemic by silencing whistleblowers and muzzling scientists, while concerned doctors have disappeared.

After praising the Chinese government for their "efforts and transparency" on January 24, Trump has since U-turned and referred to the disease as the "Chinese virus."

He repeatedly said the World Health Organization (WHO) was complicit in their COVID-19 cover up and halted $500 million US funding to the group, a move medics and some Democrats have condemned.

The US death toll in the US has since topped 28,000.

During his Rose Garden address this evening, Trump again blasted the WHO, saying they were a "tool of China" during and before the outbreak.

"China is paying $38, 39 and 40 million a year," Trump raged. "They control this group. I could do that too if I wanted […] I could do very well with that."

He also indicated that China was still not presenting the facts as the US surpassed them as the worst affected country in the world last week.

"Do you really believe those numbers?" he demanded. "In that vast country called China.

"We have more cases because we do more reporting."

Trump refused to go into further detail about his knowledge of the outbreak stemming from the Wuhan lab when pressed by reporters.

"I don't want to discuss what I talked to him about the laboratory.  I just don't want to discuss it.  It's inappropriate right now," he said.

Last month, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested the US military could have manufactured the disease on Twitter, echoing the unfounded claim made by Iran.

Geng Shuang, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also said "certain American politicians" were stigmatizing China by linking it to COVID-19, although he didn't name Trump explicitly.

Source: Sun UK